Profits at the private banking arm of the business rose in the latest quarter, it reported today.

HSBC today said its global private banking business logged a pre-tax profit of $151 million in the third quarter of 2016, up from $81 million a year earlier and bouncing back from a loss of $667 million in the second quarter of this year. For the first nine months of 2016, however, the pre-tax figure at the private bank was a loss of $406 million.

The Hong Kong/London-listed banking group said net operating income in Q3 was $461 million, down from $504 million a year earlier.

The cost/efficiency ratio of the private banking business was 67.7 per cent, down from 83.9 per cent in Q3 2015, HSBC said in a statement.

Client assets on a closing balance basis were $315 billion at the end of September this year, against $317 billion at the end of June. There was a net outflow of $4 billion in the latest quarter.

Across all HSBC businesses, the firm made a pre-tax profit, on a reported basis, in the quarter of $843 million, down from $6.097 billion a year earlier. Adjusted pre-tax profit was $5.591 billion in the quarter, up 7 per cent year-on-year. HSBC said the main differences between reported and adjusted are foreign currency translation and significant items, including the operating results for its Brazil business as well as the loss recognised on disposal, changes in the fair value of its debt, and other items. (The bank is exiting the Brazil market.)